On the way to my classroom
I walk down the long corridor
Past the hundreds of books
Their picture jackets
Colorful and bright
Each one a window onto world
I have never visited
I can see elephants
On a plain in Africa
A jet airline cruising
Far above the white clouds
Waterfalls Icebergs
and cavemen fighting
a saber tooth
While the family cowers in a cave
Such places! Such worlds
Back in a class
There are windows
Looking onto a world I know well

Why does the family cower in a cave?